Grove City College Professor of Biology Dr. Tracy Farone’s research on ticks and tick-borne diseases in Pennsylvania has resulted in three articles published or slated for publication soon.
The first of these publications, “Ticks collected in late fall from hunter- harvested white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) heads in Pennsylvania, 2013–2015,” was published in the December 2017 issue of the Journal of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science. It discusses the state-wide tick collection results, including a “new tick” not commonly reported before in Pennsyvlania.
The Journal is also scheduled to publish "Borrelia miyamotoi Infection Rate in Black-legged Ticks (Ixodes scapularis) Recovered from Hunter-Harvested White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) Heads in Pennsylvania" in June. It highlights a unique tick-borne Borrelia species in PA.
The final publication, "Evidence of Powassan virus (POWV) in Adult Black-legged Ticks (Ixodes scapularis) Recovered from Hunter-Harvested White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Pennsylvania: A Public Health Perspective," has recently been accepted to the international journal Zoonoses and Public Health. It will be the first paper to document the Powassan virus in the Ixodes scapularis (deer tick) population in the state.
The research was conducted over the last five years in collaboration with Grove City College students, faculty and professionals from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Pennsylvania Department of Health and Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Farone credits some of her research partners, former students Amanda (Hutzelmann) Hoselton ’17, Amy Lind ’17, Amanda Everett ’17, Ryker Minch ’17, Colin Fort ’16 and Ryan Braumann ’16, as co-authors and acknowledges the work of others, including alumni Rachel Masciarelli ’15, Stephanie Pitman ’15 and Abby Cleveland ’17, and faculty members Dr. Heather Barton, Dr. Fred Brenner, and Dr. Steve Jenkins.
The studies have and will be presented at multiple conferences around the country by Farone, her students and collaborators. A portion of these studies were generously supported by Grove City College’s Jewell, MacKenzie and Moore Fund, which supports scientific research at the College.
Farone also had an article published on the One Health Commission’s website in February. “Examples of Undergraduate One Health Education” discusses examples of incorporating public health and global medicine into an undergraduate education.